Help ASAP

My dog all the sudden became majorly hormonal and hyper. The last week or so he’s been extra hyper and not wanting to listen but today he started getting weird with my sister. He has been trying to hump her and being very “up in her face” to a point where we had to lock him in his kennel. He is a 14 month old Rhodesian ridgeback, and we do have a 5 month old female RR as well. Does anyone know why he might be acting this way and what can I do to stop it?

Is he fixed?

Next question, is SHE fixed?

Neither one of them are fixed we plan to breed them in a few years.

Then my guess is that she might be coming into her first heat, in which case you have a barrel of fun headed your way in keeping them seperated (NEVER EVER EVER breed on the first heat!) and having to deal with a frustrated intact male.

I do hope that you plan on doing all appropriate health testing, like OFA, CERF, elbows and those diseases common in Rhodies. Also, do you show at all? Are they both outstanding specimens of their breed?

Are they going to be titled in any way? Are they registered? Do they have good temperaments/trainability? Do they conform to the R.R. standards? Are (as zoom said) they excellent specimens of the breed? Don't forget the appropriate health testing that was mentioned as well as finding out as much info on whelping/dangers/breeding/etc. + health guarantees and spay/neuter contracts.

I'm sure there is more to consider. It's been a long day.
Good Luck and be a responsible breeder, not a byb.

**shudder** just exactly what I hate to hear whenever I log on to this site. It makes me want to cry, seriously.

Yesterday we were at the park and I remarked to a lady about her beautiful husky. She said, `Yeah, she had eight puppies a few months ago, and four of them were stolen'. I had to actually walk away so that I didn't ask her if she was a registered breeder, knew what she was doing, knew how many dogs there are in shelters and so forth. If there is one thing that takes top prize for being the ultimate in selfishness, it's backyard breeding.

Get your dogs fixed, and don't contribute to the overpopulation problem this world faces with so many dogs - mostly because of backyard breeders.

And that's my rant for the day.

Samson why not do a search on breeding on this site.
Keywords
Breeding, BYB, puppymill, responsible breeder.

opcorn:

If you aren't showing your dogs - Honestly I'd fix at least one of them.

Its a HUGE pain in the butt to keep the male away from the female for a WHOLE MONTH.

We have three dogs here. 1 is my unaltered male Belgian Tervuren, 1 is our altered male Sheltie, the other is our unaltered female Sheltie.

Our male Sheltie was altered b/c he grew out of standard and therefor unshowable and unbreedable. (He also had a few other flaws that were not worth passing down ie - gay tail, back feet point inward and long in the body).

Anyways our little female sheltie and my Male Belgian are BOTH show dogs trying to gain their Canadian CH titles - therefore CAN NOT be fixed.

If it was up to me - our female would be fixed in a heart beat.

The things my Belgian goes through are insane. He completely looses focus - he paces the halls, whines, cries, stops eating, looses weight, gets too friendly with other dogs, if I handle our female during her heat - he tries to get friendly with me - he learned the hard way its not a good idea with me.

He basically looses his brain - and he is a very smart and obedient dog under other circumstances.

Each time our female is in the backyard and hes out afterwards when shes back in - he sniffs our yard down and marks EVERYWHERE, he froths from the mouth b/c he can smell her but can't see her.

Honestly is it REALLY worth your time and energy for this? Is your home properly set up to keep your dogs seperated for a FULL MONTH when your bitch is in season?

Do you have any previous experience with breeding, does your breeder or place you got your dogs from know that you are planning on breeding them??
Are you planning on health testing BOTH your dogs for eyes, hips, elbows in the least?

Its not worth stresses for your male if these things can not be done - trust me!

^^Ditto!
Great post Summer!

~Tucker

If you are not showing or planning on showing then I would spay/neuter BOTH of them. Your male could be acting this way for the simple reason that he has now reached adulthood, and he no longer has his cute puppy attitude. He could be vying for a new satus symbol in your household and is exerting his dominance over your sister. This is unacceptable behavior , and could cause major problems if this isn't corrected immediatley. He needs to know where his place is in the pack, and that place is at the bottom when it comes to all of the people who live in your house. RR's are very intellegent and strong willed hounds, they NEED to be taught where the boundries are, and your boy could be testing the waters so to speak. NILIF training is an excellent idea, and the whole family has to be consistent with it for him to get the idea. Maybe a refresher course in obedience would be good to remind him who is boss. How much excecise does he get in a day, they say a RR is happiest when it is stretched out in a full run. And the mantra a tired dog is a good dog is TRUE!!! And this is only if your female RR is not exhibiting early heat symptoms, then like everyone has already pointed out to you- that is a whole different can of worms! As everyone has already said keeping 2 intact RR's of different sexes in the house is a huge responsibility and demanding expereince. Your male will not be a happy boy when she is in season, he will be hard to handle and he will have only one thing in mind. You have some hard decisions to make! Good luck!

Doggie Breeding

Well I have to say this, yes there are a load of unethical breeders out there. Many of you have great intentions and advise that is cool. I would just like to say that if your intention was to breed R.R why start off with the male. I personally would have purchased a female first and foremost. I would have here fully evaluated and started in a Training Program. Once that was complete I would have then searched for a well rounded male to compliment the female.

If your male is acting out hormonaly then I would put him in a training program if your intentions were to breed. We have been breeding German Shepherds for over 20 yrs and have never had an accedent at anytime. As we secured the dogs when they were in heat. We bred who we thought should be and did not breed if they were not of the standard to be bred.

All of our males were trained to breed on command and only on command. This secured that we never ever had unwanted litters and uncompatable dogs bred together. Sure this took a lot of head aches out of any potential problems and to be honest a lot of people complimented us on our practises.

It is important that you educate yourself and this goes for all of us. Not all dogs should be bred and not everyone has the ability to do what the other has done. I will state this go ahead try to breed you may not like what the out come is. You may endup with a c-section and or other problems that would turn you around. Always ask questions and always focus on the right thing to do. There is not a lot of money into breeding. There are more out going expenses then what any one ever brings in. So think of those areas prior to considering to breed you dog. As well make sure that you have the proper homes for the dogs. Never ever just sell to anyone especially if they do not have the proper housing and at that the proper income to secure the dog receives what he/she needs. Remember each yr we have well over 10,000,00 litters of dogs here in the Ontario area and many of them get the shitty end of the stick

I stand to be corrected, but as I read the post, the issue is with the dog acting up with the owner's sister. This appears to be a dominance issue and the behavior needs to be firmly corrected. Locking the dog away for a short period, a 'time out', may be one way of dealing with the issue, but I would suggest taking a few other steps to stop the dominance too. Try training the dog to lie down quietly and play with a chew toy or find some other way to distract him. It may also be an idea to check whether he has any physical irritation in the area which may make him itch or burn and is causing the humping behavior to relieve it.

If it's a domination behavior then "time outs" are not going to fix it. This isn't a 3 year old child here, it's a dog. The dog is at the age where it will start to test the other members of its "pack" so it can find its place. Every human in that house should be working with the dog and teaching it that they are dominant over him.

You've got a dog that's probably coming into sexual maturity. Which alone can be tough to handle for many owners. It's a time when they try to test their boundries and you have to be firm and consistant to get past it.

Add to the mix a female in heat and your dog may be ten times worse behavior wise. He's got some ragging hormones, much like a teenage boy and he wants to try them out. That's gonna make him cranky and snarky and hard to handle.

I would really reccomend having them both neutered if you don't plan to show your dogs and get the required health testing for your breed. It'll make them MUCH easier to work with and train and honestly, puppies are cute, but they are WORK. I've fostered litters of puppies before and my goodness, I was so happy when they all found homes. The endless cleaning, yapping and housetraining for a litter of pups is very draining. Not to mention socializing them properly for their age and starting them on some basic training before they go to new homes, which I think most reputable breeders do.

It's just a ton of trouble. Cute trouble, but trouble none the less.

In the mean time, Keep a leash on your dog so you have a better way to control him when he gets riled up. Does he know any commands? If yes, use them. If not, enroll in a class and start teaching him the basics, sit and stay especially will be lifesavers for your sanity.

Up his exercise. A tired dog is a good dog. Make sure he gets a good run every day to work out the beans.

There's no way a 5 month old female is coming on heat.

I was referring to WHEN she goes into heat. Not saying she was in heat now.
However, it's possible for a puppy to go into their first heat as early as 6 months.

At 14 months, you would have to consider that your dog is starting to think that he may be due for a promotion in the pack. You didn't say if your sister lives with you and the dog. A quick and dirty way to overcome the humping could be for her to take over the feeding duties. This sends a powerful message. If you have any control over the dog, you should be around to supervise this. She should have the dogs food in one hand and be eating some human food with her other hand. When, and only when she finishes eating she should put the food down for the dog. Making puppy sit before she puts the food down will add to the effect. I would make this a permanent regime.

Other tricks that keep a dog respectful; before you pat the dog, make it obey a command. Always insist on going thru a door before the dog. If the dog beats you, call it back and go thru before the dog. When you walk the dog, insist on a slack lead. As soon as the lead goes tight, make the dog sit and look at you. Every time until he always does it your way. Never allow your dog to jump up on you. when he tries lift your knee up in his way so he can't reach you. If your dog is trying to demand your attention, cross your arms and hold them out from your chest, so he is unable to make eye contact with you. Get a dog matress if your dog is allowed indoors and never let him on the human furniture. I've even heard it said that when you are around your dog, hold your head high and stick your chest out like you are the most important thing in the world. I can't vouch for the last one.

If a dog is used to getting his own way all the time, he will think that there is no real leadership in his pack. He probably wont want to take on the responsibiliy, but he will feel that he has to for the good of the pack. You need to make everyone in your household aware that the dog gets nothing on demand. If he wants anything, a pat, food or even a look, he has to do what he is told first. Every dog needs to know sit, lie down, heel and come. You need to demand one of these before the dog gets anything that it might want. Its important that everyone is on board for this coz if one person doesn't do it the dog will see them as a pushover that can be dominated if he needs to do that.

The last few days have been somewhat better. I’ve been taking him to the baseball field down the street to run and play so he can get out some excess energy. We also started doing NILIF training with him and Delilah as well; I also plan to bring him to a refresher training class. As far as breeding goes we know all the testing, work and time that goes into it. We have bred Saints before and loved it and would never breed irresponsibly. We love our dogs and understand the responsibility of it all. Thanks for the advice; I’ll definitely keep up with the NILIF training so that they know whose boss.

Good to hear! Sorry if it seems like we came on a bit strong about the breeding, we get so many "silly" questions every day on here that it's turned into a gauntlet when a new person mentions breeding.